Standard Chartered posts Q2 loss; to cut India exposure, 15,000 jobs globally

Mumbai: British major Standard Chartered Tuesday said it is looking to reduce exposure to India as it reported a loss of USD 139 million for September quarter on rising loan impairments in the country while the lender also announced plans to raise USD 5.1 billion and 15,000 jobs cuts globally.

However, whether the company's job cut plan includes India, could not be confirmed.

For the British baking major losses continue to be a problem in the country as it blamed poor asset quality one of major factors that dented its profits.

"The group has taken a loan impairment charge of USD 1.2 billion in the third quarter, broadly in line with the second quarter, which reflects continued adverse trends in particular in India and commodities," the bank management said in an interim earnings statement.

The bank, which is undergoing a major restructuring had posted a net profit of USD 1.5 billion in the corresponding period last fiscal.

It also announced it will be reducing its exposure to India, which from one the top most profit centres in recent past has been slipping since the early part of the decade.

The lender further said it will be raising USD 5.1 billion in core capital through a rights issue and announced up to 15,000 jobs cuts globally.

"The environment in our markets remains challenging and our recent performance is disappointing. Today we have announced a strategy that makes big changes to how we will manage ourselves going forward. We are positioning the group for improved return on equity on a strengthened capital base," the lender's new group Chief executive Bill Winters said.

To transform into a "lean, focused and more profitable" lender, the British bank has decided to adopt a slew of strategies, including reducing its exposure to India, it said in a statement.

"Adoption of a new risk tolerance framework which will reduce single-name concentrations and unsecured retail and corporate business, coupled with more active reduction in our China, India and commodities exposures," it said.

In August, the bank had expressed disappointment with its India operations, saying the impact of reforms has been slower and corporates are still struggling.

"The impact of macro-economic reforms has been slower than the group's earlier expectation," it had said, adding this is evident in corporate earnings for March which came in at 10-quarter worst and slowest credit growth in two decades.

Winters had then said that there were no signs of a reversal in the asset quality trend.

"India has faced a slowdown in economic growth since 2012, relative to the higher rates of previous years, combined with high indebtedness in some corporate sectors and lower appetite for refinancing, reducing the success of corporate debt restructuring and distribution efforts," the August 2015 statement said.

It had reported a pre-tax loss of USD 276 million for the January-June period as against a profit of USD 395 million a year ago due to a spike in bad assets, which has also dented its profits globally.

From being one of the top performing geographies for Standard Chartered globally, India has now slipped to the bottom on the basis of profitability among the seven regions it operates in.